


The long tail of war

by halfeatenmoon



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 05:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20304220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/pseuds/halfeatenmoon
Summary: Shara wondered whether she was too invested in this rescue mission, until she saw Leia's face.





	The long tail of war

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gloss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloss/gifts).

Shara pulled off her flight harness as soon as her ship hit the ground. She had the co-ordinates memorised and studied the terrain during the hyperspace trip so that she'd know exactly where to go. She hit the ground running, heading for the forest and weaving her way through to the waterfall mentioned in her mission brief. She's putting her absolute finest work into this mission. Every second counts.

She did wonder, during the trip over, whether she was too invested in this rescue mission. When she found Leia huddled in a hollow between several rocks, clutching a bloodstain on her side... well, it didn't exactly answer the question. But the way Leia looked up at her and said "I'm glad it's you again" sure made her feel something.

Not that there was time for feelings right now.

"I'm glad I got here in time," Shara said, dropping to her knees and ripping the gash in Leia's shirt open wider to expose the wound.

"Of course, I'm glad for that, too." Leia hissed as Shara pulled her hand away and peered at the gash. "Still. Lovely to see you."

"You did a pretty good job field-dressing this. There isn't much we have to do." She glanced at the communicator on her wrist. "Which is a good thing, because we don't have a lot of time."

"I never learned first aid, just tried to pick a few things up." Leia gasped as Shara pulled the rest of the rags she'd used as bandages away.

"Too much?"

Leia clenched her teeth. "Not much time. Just do it."

"It's about to hurt a bit more, but I've got you."

Too intimate? No time to worry about it. Shara cleared the space around the wound, uncapped a bottle of disinfectant and held out her hand. Wordlessly, Leia took it in both of hers. When Shara poured the stinging liquid, Leia clenched her jaw and squeezed Shara's hands, not letting out a sound.

Shara liked the touch of her hands, even when it felt like Leia was making her bones grind together. No time to enjoy it, though. She pulled her hand away as soon as Leia had relaxed enough to let her, slapped an adhesive dressing on the wound and pulled the bloodstained fabric over it again.

"Done," she said. "Let's go."

"I can walk," Leia said, as Shara slipped an arm under her knees. But she didn't really sound like she was protesting.

"I know. This is faster."

Shara hoisted her up - always surprised by how small Leia's body felt against hers when Leia's presence was so powerful - and set off back to the ship as quickly as she could.

"I've missed us," Leia said, dryly, against Shara's neck.

Shara kind of had too, if she was honest. "It would be nice to see each other outside of a war zone."

"I know, I'm sorry for never coming around. I thought you were going to retire from active duty, though."

"Yeah, well, war never really ends. Always something to pull you back in." Shara paused to breathe for a moment. "And I thought you were doing the same."

"I did. This is a diplomatic mission."

"I think it _was_ a diplomatic mission."

"It's how diplomatic missions used to go back in the old days." Leia sighed.

Shara picked her way carefully through a tight knot of trees. At least she could land pretty close to Leia's location, so this wasn't going to take too long. "It sounds like you miss the old days."

"I don't miss galactic dictatorship and running for my life all the time, no. But I can enjoy running for my life occasionally." She lay her head down on Shara's shoulder. "Don't you?"

Shara didn't, not really. She liked peacetime. She liked Yavin IV. She liked mostly flying for pleasure instead of for her life. But there were things she missed.

"I like my life now. I do miss everyone being together all the time, though."

"Mmmm."

Leia didn't say anything else, which was somewhat more unnerving than if she'd kept talking. Shara had to wonder whether Leia, too, was remembering missions they'd worked together before and after Endor - the times they'd kissed when waiting out an ambush, the times they fucked out the remains of their post-battle adrenaline together. The time Shara had fretted about kissing someone of Leia's rank, and Leia had said it was war time, soldier, you got pleasure where you could.

There was no time to talk about it, but Shara's heart was racing now as they approached the ship, and not just from her growing fatigue as they finally approached the ship. It's not like she took this mission hoping to hook up with Leia again. She really did like her life now. It was just hard not to hook up with Princess Leia Organa and not still have feelings about it, even if it was years and years later and felt like a different lifetime.

"Nice ride," Leia said, when the ship came into view.

"Only the best for you, Princess," Shara said. "Okay, so, it's not terribly comfortable, but I'm gonna need to hold the handrail as I climb the ladder, so I'll have to throw you over my shoulder."

"Okay."

"I'll try to be careful of your wound, but it'll probably hurt."

"I've survived this long," Leia said, dryly. "Just one thing before we go."

"Oh?"

Leia hooked one arm around Shara's neck and put the other to her jaw, pulling her into a kiss. Shara did not stumble with the surprise, she didn't flinch; she was _not_ going to drop her injured princess. But Leia kissed her hard, and deep, in a way that brought back every long-ago memory of their bodies together in threadbare military bunks, and she had to admit that by the end she was feeling a little weak at the knees.

"Like I said," Leia smirked. "I'm glad it was you on this mission."

"Okay," Shara said, hitching Leia up into her arms. "I'm glad I got this mission, too."


End file.
